7/26/09

You know how you read a title of a story that says "I'm back..." and what follows is "did you miss me?" I hate that. That is NOT what I'm going to say. You know why? I missed YOU guys. Holy smack-a-doodles did I miss you guys! I mean seriously, I felt like I was gone for a year. I know I led you all to believe that I was away on a nice, peaceful, relaxful vacation. I wasn't really. Something at home happened that made our lives just stop and go "whoa". It wasn't anything life threatening, but it was truly scary enough.To make a long story short, all is fine now, our lives are back on track and things are finally coming around to a normal schedule again. Grateful. A HUGE thank you to all my friends for your emails and phone calls--you know who you are and I love that you cared about me and my family. Thank you, that meant the world to me and the hubster.On to the good stuff! Let's talk about food and whats happening. Have I been the only one pigging out this summer? Tell me (lie please) you've been pigging out too? Make me feel better. The gym, my workouts have been non-existent. Bad, very bad. But I have been swimming, so that counts a bit. I've been swimming daily and nightly watching Shark Week on TV (in HD too--super wild that way). So while I'm in the water swimming away what thoughts go round and round in my head? Yes, those thoughts of humans getting bit by sharks! Always a ton of sharks in the water while I swim; this is whats played through my head as I swim back to the shore. Well, it gets me swimming faster, so........ Amazing what your brain will do when you let it ride on it's own, unsupervised.I didn't know which latest food creation to share with you first so I picked the one I ate the most of this week: peaches. Lately those peaches at Whole Foods have been fabulous! So flavorful, so plump and huge. I've been eating a lot of them and saved a few for this wonderful peach and creme fraiche pie I saw over at Martha Stewart's website.

This is a peach & creme fraiche pie. The recipe is found here. Changes I made were adding double the crumb topping and serving it with fresh whipped cinnamon cream (just add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon sugar to your whipping cream while you're whipping it). Also, before you're ready to whip your cream add the bowl and beaters to the freezer. This way they'll be nice and cold when you go to whip it up--wonderful little tip. This pie was really good, I mean really good. I truly thought this pie would be heavy and dense, not at all. It was very light tasting, I'm sure it's not so light in calories, but the overall texture was light--surprisingly.

My notes: Changes I made were doubling the crumb topping. Her version there was hardly any crumb. I also served this with fresh whipped cinnamon cream (just add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon sugar to your whipping cream while you're whipping it). Also, before you're ready to whip your cream add the bowl and beaters to the freezer. This way they'll be nice and cold when you go to whip it up--wonderful little tip.

Make the pate sucree: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter; process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. add egg yolk, and pulse. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube until dough just holds together. Turn out dough onto a work surface; shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 2 days).

Make the streusel: Sift together sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using your hands or a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9 1/2- or 10-inch pie plate (about 1 1/2 inches deep). Trim edge to 1 inch; fold under, and crimp as desired. Pierce bottom of dough all over with a fork. Transfer to freezer for 30 minutes.

YAHOO! You are back! I have missed your posts and amazing food creations. I've been routing for you:) I am glad things are looking up. And now onto the food. The pie looks super duper delicious! Love the cinnamon whipped cream too!

Welcome back!!!!! Youo have been missed. Don't worry I've been pigging out too. It's summer. That my only excuse. hahaha... You picka agood choice as your "come back" recipe. Now I want some pie!!!!!!!

Welcome back, Dawn!!! Like everyone else, I missed you a whole bunch! I'm so glad things are getting back to normal for you.

We've had a pretty horrible summer. I picked up an extra writing job and now I don't have any time for blogging because I'm literally working day and night.

Your pie looks awesome! You're inspiring me to get back to my blog, because the next thing I planned to post about is a blueberry bread I made in Maine. When I added a thick layer of crumb topping I thought of YOU!

I'm so glad you're back! I didn't think you were on vacay, but I thought you were chillin' at home and enjoying your time away from the computer. I'm sorry you had a "whoa!" in your life. I'm glad all is well now.

I appreciate the comments you left on my blog. They made me smile because they were from you. Funny thing too, because that blueberry cream cheese bacon bagel reminded me SO much of you :-)

This pie sounds fantastic and I just bought peaches from WF yesterday, but I also just wrote a post about my husband not letting me bake with peaches because I'll "ruin them"!

good googa mooga, i missed you too, dawn! you always amuse me and make me hungry, and you've wasted no time in doing both again. this is one stellar pie--rarely do you see such a wonderful thickness to a peach pie and i LOVE it. the crust is wonderful too, and come on--cinnamon whipped cream? sold!

I missed you too Dawn and am so glad you are back and that things in your life are getting back to normal! Someone at work just gave me a slew of fresh peaches, now I know exactly what I am going to do with them. (Yes, I've pigged out too this summer)

Even though you're not asking, we missed you of course! It's like part of my blogging world was gone for a while. I'm glad everything seems to be back on track now :) I'm glad too that during this time I was able to talk to you on Twitter.And now you've brought back some pie!!! With luscious peaches inside too! I can have a slice-- I haven't been pigging out at all, heh heh ;)

How great to open my email this morning and see you're back! You've been missed!Especially the way you add all "the good stuff", juast the way I'd like it if I were eating it! Yay! More crumbs, yay cinnamon, yay you're back!

Hey Dawn! So great to see you back! I am not sure what is up, but this summer has been one of turning things topsy turvey! I had to take some time off too...BUT at least I didn't miss anything major here with you! :)

Welcome back Dawn! You've been missed! I'm glad to hear everything is back where it should be after your "whoa".......that's good to hear.That PIE...that PIE...oh MY! The local orchard just put the PEACHES sign out last week...I can't WAIT to make this after seeing your AMAZING photo!!!!!! :)

You have completely sold that pie to me! Even the dollop of cream looks exceedingly perfect... I am in the midst of a job hunt which leaves me with a good few afternoons when I could settle in and create this for my hosts here... Thanks for sharing :) & enjoy BB!

Welcome back! I missed your delicious recipes and gorgeous images. I kept checking almost every week and you're finally back! YAY!I love this pie, what a great homecoming!And I'm glad everything is back to settled at home. Sometimes life gives you a bit of a shake when you're getting too comfy... it's good to wake up sometimes and appreciate the important things!

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com